Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Victories Big & Small

First, victory over the recalcitrant Naturemill composter. We had a little odor problem. Greg believes it is due to my adding meat remains combined with his adding coffee grounds. That we created an inhospitable, acidic environment bad for our microbes. It smelled. We burned a scented candle. I covered the unit with a dry cleaning bag to try to contain it. It had water coming out of it. First I added some saw dust pellets and some baking soda. But it wasn't enough. I added more baking soda & saw dust pellets. I was frustrated. I told my friends the story in a humorous fashion over the weekend. Unfortunately laughing at the situation didn't help the lingering cloud of funk. By Monday night, I had had enough. I called Marci in desperation. I drove across town to her & Aaron's house and got dirt. Tuesday morning I added the dirt. Today, it doesn't smell. I'm excited. The first time in a week, the unit seems to be happy. I'm not going to push it. I'm going to let it churn & digest and then I'll have the contents spewed out and pass them on to either Marci & Aaron, Mom or Dad.

A small battle won in the long war with my weight...I was excited that I didn't gain any weight while on the trip to Minnesota. However, I was dismayed that it popped up a bit after my 1st week back. But I hopped on the scale this morning, 2 days later, and it was the lowest it has been since I got back on Weight Watchers. Not that I have illusions that a 2.5 lb weight loss in 2 days is real - I'll be impressed if I'm this weight or lower next week. How does my body do it? I can lose weight in my sleep - I think it is water loss. At the same time, I'm encouraged that I'm heading in the right direction. More veggie products, less carbs & less fat. If I keep this up, I'll have a BMI of less than 25 in another few weeks.